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12 August 2025
 
 

Danny Shea

Blackburn Rovers FC

 2 appearances, 0 goals

P 2 W 1 D 0 L 1 F 2: A 3
50% successful
1914

captain: none
minutes played: 180

Timeline
  Daniel Shea
Birth Sunday, 6 November 1887 in Wapping, Middlesex.
"Born at Wapping (where he still resides) on November 6, 1888, Shea (pronounced Shay)..." - Athletic News, Monday, 3 February 1908
"Shea was born at Wapping on Nov. 6, 1887, but his father was an Irishman hailing from Ballyshannon. To use his own words, 'I only just missed being a Guy Fawkes.'" - Daily News, Saturday, 25 October 1913 & 26 April 1919
  registered to McCarthy in St George in the East, London, October-December 1887
notes: Wapping was part of the Middlesex County Registration until 1889.
 

According to the 1891 census, three year old Dan is the youngest of five children to Richard and Polly (Mary Ann) (née McCarthy). His father is a dock labourer and they live at 14 Rygate Street in St. George in the East.
Also confirmed by the 1890-93 Electoral Registers for Tower Hamlets. Between 1897-98. they appear to have been living at 9 Saint James' Place.
 

According to the 1901 census, Daniel is the third of four children to their parents. His father is a wharf labourer. They live at 9 Agatha Street in St. George in the East, with the Lynch family.
Again, also confirmed by the 1901-06 Electoral Registers for Tower Hamlets.
Marriage to Julia Slade, in late 1909 in Wapping
  registered as O'Shea in Stepney October-December 1909
Children Danny and Julia Shea have three children together. Daniel, Margaret and Julie
 

According to the 1911 census, Daniel is a commercial clerk 'for Carron Shipping Lines' married to Julia with one son, Daniel. They still live at 9 Agatha Street with his widowed mother and two of his sisters, Minnie and Emma.
  According to the 1921 census, Daniel, a professional footballer (for Fulham FC), is still married, now with two more children, Margaret and Julia. They live with his wife's mother at 7 Watts Street in Wapping.
  "Danny Shea, the old West Ham-Blackburn forward, has a post office near the Hammers' ground." - The Liverpool Echo, Saturday, 10 October 1936
  According to the 1939 register, Daniel, a dock labourer, and Julia are still married, living at 20 Frobisher House in Stepney, along with Daniel jr and Margaret.
"Where are the now?—No.629  DANNY SHEA, England inside-right before the First World War, played for West Ham, Blackburn Rovers and Fulham. Today is his seventy-second birthday. He will spend it looking for work in the docks at Wapping. Times have changed since Danny, the Golden Boy of West Ham, was transferred to Blackburn in 1913 for the then fabulous sum of £2,000. Now living in a council flat with his wife and daughter at Whitethorn House, Prusom Street, Wapping, he is finding it hard to get work. Said Danny yesterday: 'When I hear of £65,000 transfer fees I can't help smiling. In my days we played real football; men were artists with the ball and always gave the crowd their money's worth. Today the Continentals play the kind of football we have forgotten.' Danny's one real pleasure these days is going to see West Ham play: 'Their present team is as good as any of their predecessors,' he says." - News Chronicle, Friday, 6 November 1959
Death Sunday, 25 December 1960, at his home in Whitethorn House on Prusom Street in Wapping, Middlesex
aged 73 years 49 days registered in Stepney October-December 1960
Obituary
"Death of Danny Shea
"Danny Shea, who played for England at inside-right before the first World War, has died at Wapping, aged 73. Shea, who played for West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers, Coventry City and Fulham, was capped against Wales and Ireland in 1913-14 and also in two victory internationals against Scotland jusy after the 1914-18 war. He was transferred from West Ham to Blackburn in 1913 at the record fee of £2,000." - Coventry Evening Telegraph, Wednesday, 28 December 1960/The Birmingham Post, Thursday, 29 December 1960.
"SOME poet, I believe it was Ogden Nash, once wrote a line of bitter truth . . . 'Only the old men notice when an old man dies.' I fear that few of the million-and-a-half who watched the Christmas soccer games will notice the passing of Danny Shea, for he was one of the old-times who outlived his generation. But Danny, who died on Christmas Day at the age of 73, was one of the truly great players. Before the 1914 war his name meant as much to Londoners as those of Johnny Haynes and Jimmy Greaves mean to their grandchildren now.
"I saw him only once, when I was a schoolboy and he was a veteran . . . I wasn't very impressed, I fear. My only memory is of a roly-poly little man who could no longer run fast and grinned cheerfully when he was beaten by younger feet. 'What kind of player was he?' I asked Charles Paynter, the old West Ham manger who was with the club when they discovered Danny in 1908. 'He was completely original, unlike any other forward I ever saw,' said Paynter. 'He was built on the lines of Alex James, short and thickset, but they were completely dissimilar in every other respect. You couldn't imagine Danny using the long through ball as James did. He was an individualist with a wonderful feint, a baffling body turn. He used to save it for the last moment of an attacking movement—a quick switch of the body and then a lightning shot. He was a deadly scorer. In his later days his methods became more stereotyped, but there is no player to-day with whom I could compare him, for he was unique. Danny was among the great ones, no doubt about that!' Shea was a natural footballer. He did not learn the game with any school or youth club. His talents were developed kicking tin cans about the streets of Wapping with the other kids. Yet he was already the complete player when West Ham signed him.
"They transferred him in 1913 for the then princely sum of £2,000 to Blackburn, where he partnered the great Jock Simpson. These two became England's wing—a Cockney Irishman and an English-born Scot—and a wonderful wing they were. In the twilight of his career Danny returned to the London he loved and played with Fulham and Clapton Orient. For the whole of his life, apart from his Blackburn excursion, he lived in Wapping, where as a boy he played the drum in a Catholic band on their Sunday morning parades. He worked in the docks until a few months ago and was a guest at Charlie Paynter's 80th birthday party last year. He went for a walk on Christmas Eve and his sudden death the next day saddened all his neighbours in Plusom-street, where he lived in a council flat hard by the Jolly Sailors Inn . . . down Wapping Way." - Bill McGowran - The Evening News and Star, Wednesday, 28 December 1960.
Source

Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] &

Playing Career

Club(s)

League honours
306 appearances, 104 goals
 Began his junior career playing Pearl United FC and in 1904, to South Essex League side Manor Park Albion FC, from where he joined West Ham United FC on 16 November 1907. After 111 goals in 179 Southern League appearances. After bids from Chelsea FC were rejected, he joined Blackburn Rovers FC on 4 January 1913 for a record transfer fee of £2000, for which Shea received £700, as per league rules. During the war, Shea was back guesting for West Ham United FC, for whom he was sent off in 1916 for fighting, also helped out Nottingham Forest FC, and contentiously helped out Birmingham FC in 1918. Shea made the move back to West Ham United FC permanent on 21 May 1920 for a £1000 fee, after being placed on the Rovers transfer list. Shea joined Fulham FC six months later on 30 November of that year. Coventry City FC signed Shea in August 1923. Later being placed on the transfer list at his own request, Clapton Orient FC signed him on 14 March 1925, he finished his playing career with Sheppey United FC, when he signed on 15 October 1926.
Blackburn Rovers FC 1913-20 97 appearances, 61 goals
debut: 25 January 1913 Notts County FC 3 Blackburn Rovers FC 1.
West Ham United FC 1920 sixteen appearances, one goal
debut (division two): 28 August 1920 West Ham United FC 1 Hull City FC 1.
Fulham FC 1920-23 one hundred appearances, 23 goals
debut (division two): 4 December 1920 Clapton Orient FC 3 Fulham FC 0.
Coventry City FC 1923-25 sixty appearances, eleven goals
debut (division two): 25 August 1923 Coventry City FC 2 Barnsley FC 3.
Clapton Orient FC 1925-26 33 appearances, eight goals
debut (division two): 14 March 1925 Clapton Orient FC 0 Bradford City FC 0.
last (division two): 2 April 1926 Clapton Orient FC 0 Nottingham Forest FC 1.
Club honours Football League Division One Champions 1913-14 (36ᵃ 27ᵍ), third place 1914-15 (21ᵃ 13ᵍ);
Individual honours Football League (two appearances);
Southern League (three appearances);
London FA (two appearances vs. Birmingham, 1909-10).
Distinctions None
Height/Weight 5' 6", 10st. 4lb [1908], 10st 10lb [January 1913], 11st [October 1913], 5' 7", 11st. 7lbs [1923].
Source

Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990].

England Career
Player number One of three who became the 376th players (377) to appear for England.
The thirtieth player to come from Middlesex
Position(s) Inside-right
First match No. 117, 14 February 1914, England 0 Ireland 3, a British Championship match at Ayresome Park, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, aged 26 years 132 days.
Last match
30 days		 No. 118, 16 March 1914, Wales 0 England 2, a British Championship match at Ninian Park, Sloper Road, Cardiff, aged 26 years 162 days.
Major tournaments British Championship 1913-14;
Team honours None
Individual honours The South (one appearance, 1ᵍ November 1912);
The North (two appearances, 3ᵍ January 1914-April 1919);
England Victory (two appearances, April-May 1919);
Distinctions None

Beyond England
In early 1928, Shea was found to be training in Netherlands. From 13 August 1928, he coached the Swiss amateur club side, Winterhur. Returned to become the trainer at Woking Town FC on 26 September 1929 ('There were more than 100 applications for the post'). He managed two seasons before his services were dispensed with, unable to pay his wages. - An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who. Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.221.


The Numbers
parties Appearances comp. apps minutes captain
2 2 2 180 0 none
The minutes here given can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only an approximation.
P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
2 1 0 1 2 3 -1 1 1 1 1.5 50 =0
both of his matches were played in the British Championship competition

Venue & Opposition Record

Venue & Opposition P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
Home Ireland 1 0 0 1 0 3 -3 1 0 0.00 3.00 0.00 -1
Away Wales 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 0 1 2.00 0.00 100.0 +1

Tournament Record

British Championship Competition
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
BC 1913-14 2 1 0 1 2 3 -1 1 1 1.00 1.50 50.0 =0
BC All 2 1 0 1 2 3 -1 1 1 1.00 1.50 50.0 =0

All Competition
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
BC 2 1 0 1 2 3 -1 1 1 1.00 1.50 50.0 =0
2 1 0 1 2 3 -1 1 1 1 1.5 50 =0

Match History

 Club: Blackburn Rovers F.C. - two full appearances (180 min)

F.A. International Select Committee - two full appearances (180 min)x

apps match match details comp res. rundown pos

Age 25 trial  
one appearance - The South vs. England, 25 November 1912;
 
Age 26    
one appearance - The North vs. England, 21 January 1914;

1 117 14 February 1914 - England 0 Ireland 3
 Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough		 BC HL   ir

one of three who became the 376th player (377) to appear for England
the 25th Blackburn Rovers FC player to represent England

2 118 16 March 1914 - Wales 0 England 2
Ninian Park, Cardiff		 BC AW   ir
 


Age 31 trial  
one appearance - The South vs. The North, 14 April 1919;


Victory
Inter'nals		 26 April 1919 - England 2 Scotland 2
Goodison Park, Liverpool		 Fr HW   ir
3 May 1919 - Scotland 3 England 4
Hampden Park, Glasgow		 Fr AW   ir

 

 
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